Harper lives in Pearl, [[Mississippi]], with his wife of thirty two years, Sidney, and their two children.<ref>[http://harper.house.gov/about-gregg/full-biography ''Official House Site'' "Full Biography," Accessed December 3, 2011]</ref>

Based on analysis of multiple outside rankings, Harper is an average Republican member of Congress, meaning he will vote with the Republican Party on the majority of bills.

Biography

Harper was born in 1956 in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from public high school in Perl, Mississippi, in 1974, he went on to earn his B.A. from Mississippi College and his J.D. from the University of Mississippi Law School in 1978 and 1981, respectively. Prior to his political career, Harper worked as an attorney in private practice.[3]

Issues

Specific votes

Fiscal Cliff

Harper voted against the fiscal cliff compromise bill, which made permanent most of the Bush tax cuts originally passed in 2001 and 2003 while also raising tax rates on the highest income levels. He was 1 of 151 Republicans that voted against the bill. The bill was passed in the House by a 257-167 vote on January 1, 2013.[7]

Campaign themes

2012

Immigration

Excerpt: "Congressman Gregg Harper understands that it is illegal to be in the United States without proper documentation, and those who are here illegally should have to face consequences. Amnesty for illegal aliens is unacceptable."[8]

Defense

Excerpt: "Congressman Gregg Harper believes that one of the federal government’s core duties defined in the Constitution is to provide for the common defense. Peace through strength is obtained through a robust national defense policy."[9]

Excerpt: "Like every federal government agency, Congressman Gregg Harper believes the Department of Education should be examined thoroughly for waste and inefficiencies."[11]

Healthcare

Excerpt: "Instead of advancing a bill that focuses on access to care, protects the patient-doctor relationship and lowers health care premiums through increased competition and choice, the president signed a $1.7 trillion law that raids $764 billion from Medicare and raises taxes over $1 trillion."[12]

Legislative actions

113th Congress

Overview

The second session of the 113th Congress enacted into law 114 out of the 3,036 introduced bills (3.8 percent). Comparatively, the 112th Congress had 4.2 percent of introduced bills enacted into law in the second session.[13] For more information pertaining to Harper's voting record in the 113th Congress, please see the below sections.[14]

National security

National Defense Authorization Act

Harper voted in support of HR 1960 - the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. The bill passed the House on June 14, 2013, with a vote of 315 - 108. Both parties were somewhat divided on the vote.[15]

Department of Homeland Security Appropriations

Harper voted in support of HR 2217 - the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2014. The bill passed the House on June 6, 2013, with a vote of 245 - 182 and was largely along party lines.[15]

Keystone Pipeline Amendment

Harper voted in opposition of House Amendment 69, which would have amended HR 3 to "require that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, in consultation with the Department of Homeland Security, conduct a study of the vulnerabilities of the Keystone XL pipeline to a terrorist attack and certify that necessary protections have been put in place." The amendment failed on May 22, 2013, with a vote of 176 - 239 and was largely along party lines.[15]

Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act

Harper voted in support of HR 624 - the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act. The bill passed the House on April 18, 2013, with a vote of 288 - 127. The bill would allow federal intelligence agencies to share cybersecurity intelligence and information with private entities and utilities.[16] The bill was largely supported by Republicans but divided the Democratic Party.[15]

Economy

2013 Farm Bill

Farm Bill

Harper supported the July 11, 2013 Farm Bill. The bill passed in a 216-208 vote.[17] The bill passed included farm policy, but did not include food stamps.[18]

Immigration

Morton Memos Enforcement Prohibition

Harper supported House Amendment 136 - Prohibits the Enforcement of the Immigration Executive Order. The amendment was adopted by the House on June 6, 2013, with a vote of 224 - 201. The purpose of the amendment as stated on the official text is to "prohibit the use of funds to finalize, implement, administer, or enforce the Morton Memos." These memos would have granted administrative amnesty to certain illegal aliens residing in the United States.[19] The vote largely followed party lines.[20]

Healthcare

Repealing Obamacare

Harper has supported all attempts to repeal or delay the implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.[21]

Social issues

Abortion

Harper supported HR 1797 - Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act. The resolution passed the House on June 18, 2013, with a vote of 228 - 196. The purpose of the bill is to ban abortions that would take place 20 or more weeks after fertilization.[22]

Full history

To view the full congressional electoral history for Greg Harper, click [show] to expand the section.

2010

On November 2, 2010, Gregg Harper (R) won re-election to the United States House. He defeated Joel Gill (D) and Tracella Lou O'Hara Hill (Reform) in the general election.[26]

U.S. House, Mississippi Distric 3 General Election, 2010

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

Gregg Harperincumbent

68%

132,393

Democratic

Joel L. Gill

31.2%

60,737

Reform

Tracella Lou O’Hara Hill

0.8%

1,586

Total Votes

194,716

2008

On November 4, 2008, Gregg Harper won election to the United States House. He defeated Joel Gill in the general election.[27]

U.S. House of Representatives, Mississipi District 3, General Election, 2008

Party

Candidate

Vote %

Votes

Republican

Gregg Harper

62.5%

213,171

Democratic

Joel Gill

37.5%

127,698

Total Votes

340,869

Campaign donors

Comprehensive donor information for Harper is available dating back to 2008. Based on available campaign finance records, Harper raised a total of $2,772,105 during that time period. This information was last updated on May 16, 2013.[28]

Lifetime voting record

According to the website GovTrack, Harper missed 36 of 3,353 roll call votes from Jan 2009 to Apr 2013, which is 1.1% of votes during that period. This is better than the median of 2.2% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving.[36]

Congressional staff salaries

The website Legistorm compiles staff salary information for members of Congress. Harper paid his congressional staff a total of $1,095,779 in 2011. Overall, Mississippi ranked 41st in average salary for representative staff. The average U.S. House of Representatives congressional staff was paid $954,912.20 in fiscal year 2011.[37]

Staff bonuses

According to an analysis by CNN, Harper was one of nearly 25 percent of House members who gave their staff bonuses in 2012. Harper's staff was given an apparent $4,152.78 in bonus money.[38]

Net worth

2011

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org, Harper's net worth as of 2011 was estimated between -$198,996 and $449,998. That averages to $125,501, which is lower than the average net worth of Republican representatives in 2011 of $7,859,232. His average net worth decreased by 20.57% from 2010.[39]

2010

Based on congressional financial disclosure forms and calculations made available by OpenSecrets.org, Harper's net worth as of 2010 was estimated between $-148,996 to $464,999. This yields an average net worth of $158,001 which is lower than the average net worth of Republicans in 2010 of $7,561,133.[40]

National Journal vote ratings

Each year, National Journal publishes an analysis of how liberally or conservatively each member of Congress voted, as compared to other members, in the previous year. More information about the analysis process can be found on the vote ratings page.

2012

According to the data released in 2013, Harper was ranked the 146th most conservative representative during 2012.[41]

2011

According to the data released in 2012, Gregg Harper was ranked the 101st most conservative representative during 2011.[42]

Percentage voting with party

2013

Gregg Harper voted with the Republican Party 95.6% of the time, which ranked 138th among the 234 House Republican members as of June 2013.[43]

Recent news

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